Market Basket workers charge lock-in

Sunday

Jul 27, 2014 at 6:00 AMJul 27, 2014 at 9:36 PM

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — While Market Basket employees exercise their right to peacefully protest against the ousting of their former CEO, in a lawsuit filed Friday in Superior Court, night-shift workers say they were kept inside stores against their will during unpaid hour breaks, per order of the supermarket chain's management team.

Attorneys Harold L. Lichten and Peter M. Delano, of Boston, filed a class action lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court on behalf of the hundreds of former and current night shift employees at Market Basket.

The complaint alleges that Market Basket violated state wage laws by requiring all of its night-shift workers to take a mandatory, unpaid one-hour break during the night shift, while at the same time locking them in the store.

Market Basket allegedly broke the law for at least 10 years, "…by requiring all of its night-shift workers to take a mandatory one-hour break during the night shift, for which they are not paid, while at the same time, locking them into the store so that they are not free to go outside for any purpose or to use their break time as they wish," the complaint says.

"…the Defendant has had a strict policy that during the night shift, which runs overnight from approximately 8 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., all doors and avenues of egress from all of defendant's Massachusetts supermarkets are locked, and no worker working the night shift is allowed to leave for any reason. This company-wide policy holds true for every Market Basket supermarket within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Former Leominster Market Basket employees Daniel Sheridan and Hatsanai Manaivaign are named as the plaintiffs in the lawsuit seeking class certification, damages, attorneys' fees, costs and interest as well as injunctive relief on behalf of 150 to 200 night-shift employees.

The suit alleges those employees who worked 40 hours or more a week are entitled to overtime pay for the hourly breaks.

Employees on the overnight shift clean and stock the stores at all of Market Basket's 50 or more stores in Massachusetts. Each store normally employs between one and eight night-shift workers who work an 8-hour shift and are required to clock out for a one-hour break during their shift, Mr. Delano said. However, none of the workers are permitted to leave the company's premises and all are locked in. At most, workers are permitted to go into a room to have their break, which is within the locked confines of the supermarket, the lawsuit says.

Mr. Delano said the number of plaintiffs in the case may rise as more former employees come forward.

He said the lawsuit has nothing to do with employee protests.

Employees at several Market Baskets picketed outside the stores this week in support of ousted chief executive Arthur T. Demoulas.

Mr. Demoulas was fired June 23 by the company's board of directors, along with Bill Marsden, Market Basket operations director, and Joseph Rockwell, vice president of grocery sales and merchandising. It is the culmination of a decades-long family feud, reportedly stemming from dividend sharing, between Mr. Demoulas and his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and their respective supporters on the board of directors.

Yesterday, thousands of Market Basket employees and supporters of Arthur T. rallied at the company's Tewksbury headquarters. The board of directors met and confirmed they had received an offer from Arthur T. Demoulas to acquire a controlling interest in the company. A statement was issued that said the "Board will evaluate and seriously consider this proposal" along with any other offers.

The board urged that normal operations resume and reaffirmed its election of co-CEOs Felicia Thornton and James Gooch to run the company.

Contact Paula Owen at powen@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaOwenTG.